UK DOCTORS CHANGE TACK ON GENERICS

Local Medical Committees' representatives, at their annual conference, overturned a decision taken in March by the UK General Medical Services Committee to permit generic substitution by pharmacists unless the prescribing doctor had specifically instructed that this should not be done.

Cheshire LMC representative Peter Maddon told the conference that "this mysterious decision by the GMSC has been made without explanation and without a mandate from conference." How humiliating, he added, that a week after the GMSC's decision, the Health Secretary, Virginia Bottomley, told pharmaceutical companies that she remained to be convinced on generic substitution (Marketletter April 25).

Representing Suffolk LMC, Michael Freestone told the conference that "erratic behavior" has been seen from generics, and warned that generics can be dangerous to patients and could lead to legal problems for doctors or pharmacists, who could be sued if something went wrong.